Getting Your Vehicle Ready for an Okanagan Winter
Road salt, sand and freeze-thaw take a toll on paint. Here's how Kelowna drivers can protect their vehicles before winter with Icon Rocklear.
Okanagan summers are tough on a vehicle, with harsh UV and wildfire smoke taking their toll on your paint. Winter brings a different set of challenges. Once the first snow hits the valley, your paint faces months of road salt, sand, slush, and freeze-thaw cycles. The good news is that fall is the best time to get ahead of it.
What winter does to your paint
Winter road maintenance keeps us safe, but it's hard on vehicles. Salt and de-icers cling to lower panels, wheel wells, and bumpers, where they can speed up corrosion and dull your finish. Sand and gravel spread on Highway 97 and local roads get kicked up by traffic and sandblast the front end. Wet slush freezes and thaws on the paint overnight, then does it again the next day.
Add in frequent washes (or not enough of them) and bright winter sun reflecting off the snow, and by spring many vehicles look noticeably older than they did in the fall.
How Icon Rocklear holds up
Icon Rocklear is a protective coating system, not a ceramic coating. It's up to 35x thicker and 75x stronger than ceramic coatings, and it's built to stand up to the elements:
- Impact resistance: In impact testing, it withstood 120 in/lbs of impact, compared to 80 in/lbs for professional ceramics.
- Adhesion: Adhesion testing showed 540 psi is needed to separate the coating from the surface.
- UV and moisture: After 4,000 hours of extreme UV and condensation exposure, it showed zero visual changes.
- Repairable: If it gets scratched, it can often be repaired without stripping the coating off.
Every install is backed by a 15-year warranty on automotive paint (7 years on marine gelcoat). There's no paid yearly maintenance to keep it valid, just a free inspection at 18 months.
A simple winter wash routine
Even a protected vehicle needs regular washing in winter. Salt and grime sitting on the surface is what you want to avoid. A few easy habits go a long way:
- Wash regularly when the roads are salty, and don't let buildup sit for weeks.
- Rinse the lower panels, wheel wells, and undercarriage thoroughly.
- Skip the brush wash and go touchless or hand wash. Our Icon Rocklear aftercare guide covers the details.
Book your fall install
As Kelowna's only certified Icon Rocklear installer, we protect cars, trucks, and boats across the Okanagan, from Peachland to Vernon. If you'd like your vehicle protected before winter sets in, now is the time to book.
Curious how we compare to ceramic? Read our Icon Rocklear vs ceramic coatings comparison.
Test standards: impact resistance ASTM D2794; adhesion ASTM D4541; UV and condensation exposure ASTM D4587.